President Obama vetoed a bill that would approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, but that still doesn't mean the project is officially dead. But with collapsed oil prices and a world moving away from fossil fuels, would Keystone's builders eventually regret it if they do win approval?

The number of college graduates with debt is rising quickly, and some students have had enough. A group known as the Corinthian 15 say they're going on a "debt strike," hoping to force action to cancel the debts they owe to a for-profit education company — and spur broader change.

The Department of Homeland Security is a $38 billion a year operation that was cobbled together in the wake of 9/11 intelligence failures. Just how many of its hundreds of thousands of employees are essential?

Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev has infected hundreds of thousands of computers. Yet he's free, steering his yacht around the Black Sea. But that could soon come to an end as the FBI is offering $3 million to catch him.

Death is expensive. The American casket industry is a $1.5 billion business, leading some families to seek out cheaper options from China. But the Chinese haven't been able to bury the American competition.

Over the last few years, the Cuban government has been experimenting with turning state enterprises into cooperatives and letting the workers own and run them. They're seen by some as a way of opening the country up to capitalism and privatization while maintaining some of the revolution’s collectivist ideals. And so far, Cubans seem to like them.

You may have noticed that more and more wine bottles — even expensive ones — are increasingly coming with screw tops and synthetic stoppers. You might not think much about the stopper when you make a purchase, but cork producers want you to start. They're mounting a campaign to show that real cork is better for the planet.

Around the world, revelations about NSA spying have caused outrage and protests. But not so much in the US. In fact, older Americans seem more worried than digitally plugged-in youth, whose electronic lives are being monitored. One researcher says young people don't seem so worried about the government acting as Big Brother.

Grand juries decided not indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The decision enraged many Americans, who questioned why the incidents didn't deserve an open trial — exactly the reason why the UK, the originator of grand juries, abolished its own system long ago.

Most perks and services have already disappeared from air travel, but there's still more to come: Airlines are planning even lower categories of service, saying it gives customers more choice. But it may also disguise more serious cost-cutting measures in places.

The Soccket is a soccer ball with a twist — a generator inside that turns kicks into power that can run a small lamp. Its American inventors and celebrity backers say it provides hours of light so poor children in homes without electricity can study at night. But this bright idea has run into some technical problems.

Primetime dramas in South Korea — known as K-Dramas — are filled with implausible story lines, complete with romantic twists and turns. They’ve been popular in Asia for years, but thanks to online streaming websites, they’re now gaining a cult-like following in the US.

It's Nobel Prize season. While scientists throughout the world will be awarded this prestigious prize, there's a good chance all of their research was written up in English. Michael Gordin, a professor of the history of science at Princeton, wrote a new book, "Scientific Babel" that explores the intersection of the history of language and science.

Ridley Scott's newest movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings, hit theaters this weekend — with a smaller than expected box office draw. Is that because of a boycott campaign launched because the film's characters are starkly split along racial lines?

The wildly popular tweet was aimed at a nation that stigmatized all Africans during the Ebola outbreak. While the US government recommends all its citizens get inoculations, including one for measles, many states allow exemptions for personal or philosophical concerns. Immigrants, however, don't enjoy that choice.

The holidays are closing in, and next year is sure to bring battles over the budget and the debt ceiling. So some immigration advocates are ramping up the pressure on a few Republican members of the House before the issue gets drowned out by other Washington politics.

Death is expensive. The American casket industry is a $1.5 billion business, leading some families to seek out cheaper options from China. But the Chinese haven't been able to bury the American competition.

The Dalai Lama prohibits his followers from praying to what he considers the malevolent deity of Dorje Shugden. But adherents of this practice, many of them western converts, say the Tibetan religious leader is guilty of persecution.

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02/26/2015 - 10:30am

There may be a counterintuitive explanation for the deep freeze that hit New England this winter: The rapidly warming Arctic is causing big disruptions in the jet stream, which carries weather across North America. Is this the worst winter you've experienced?

Ridley Scott's newest movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings, hit theaters this weekend — with a smaller than expected box office draw. Is that because of a boycott campaign launched because the film's characters are starkly split along racial lines?

It was a rare political moment: the US Secretary of State paying a compliment to Cuba. But that’s what happened Friday when John Kerry commended Cuba's role in West Africa, where the island nation has sent more health workers than any other country — and plans to send even more in the coming weeks.

A photo of three pioneering women doctors has been circulating in social media -- but they're not wearing white lab coats. They're wearing culturally significant dress and they represent the first women doctors from their countries, back in the 1800s.